Re: "Night Watch" -- Your Police Force In Action

[David Von Pein]

I felt the need to share the following links with everyone here. They
are links to many episodes of a most unique and very unusual old-time
radio program called "Night Watch", which aired on network radio way
back in 1954 and 1955.

The show could be considered a forerunner to "Cops" and "Adam-12". We
ride along with real policemen as they perform their daily duties on
the 6 PM to 2 AM night watch in Culver City, California. There are no
actors in this radio series and no script. What unfolds on the streets
is recorded on audio tape, as it is happening. And some of this stuff
is riveting in nature, and heartbreaking at times, too.

I had never heard of this radio series prior to last week, but it has
quickly become one of my favorite "OTR" shows. It is addictive and
emanates a quality of realism and stark reality about the things that
the police face each and every day.

And a few of these episodes contain things that are quite racy for
1950s radio. In one of the shows, a man is arrested for indecent
exposure and on the ride to the police station we're treated to some
incredible descriptive narration from the suspect in the back seat of
the patrol car. (I won't mention what he was doing, but you can ask
Pee Wee Herman for a hint.) :-)

To give this post a slight "JFK-related" angle, there is one episode
which features a fingerprint expert telling us some of the methods he
uses for lifting prints from objects and the proper way to transport
evidence that contains potential fingerprints. Some JFK conspiracy
theorists will probably want to kick Lt. J.C. Day's butt after
listening to the Culver City fingerprint I.D. man. :-)

I can almost guarantee you this much--you won't want to listen to just
one of these episodes. They're like peanuts (at least I think so)--
you'll always want more.

I'm in the process of adding many more episodes of "Night Watch" to my
Old-Time Radio website and my OTR YouTube channel. There will be more
than 45 shows when I get them all done. You can access the shows at
either one of the two links below (the second link has a "Play All"
button):

http://Old-Time-Radio-Shows.blogspot.com/2013/02/night-watch.html

http://YouTube.com/playlist?list=PLJm2etPj4-MZTwcHDYpX3M5s7C2EtSwqF

[h833e...@hotmail.com]

I just ran across Night Watch, I agree with you on enjoying old-time radio
and this kind of real life action, thanks for all your hard work.